Day-to-Day Success as a Subject Lead or Head of Department

Leading a department can swallow every hour you give it. There's always another email, another meeting, another thing that came up at lunchtime. And there's always a colleague who's proud of arriving at 6am.

Long hours aren't a sign of a good leader, and you don't have to work them to do the job well. Sort your to-do list on a simple scale of urgent, important and by the end of the week, with a fourth pile for things to delegate. Keep meetings short, stick to the agenda and finish with actions, names and dates. Or ask whether a quick chat in the corridor would do instead.

It also covers change, which is where many new heads of department come unstuck. You'll see why colleagues resist it and how to bring them with you.